Through my career and personal life I have been involved in a decent amount of international parcel shipping. Unfortunately it rarely goes as smoothly as you might hope.
In my career I have worked for several small e-commerce companies. Smooth shipping was always a big concern, particularly when shipping internationally where all kinds of other problems can arise. When paying high shipping fees, you want to be sure your shipment is going to arrive safely and in a timely manner. Of course you also don’t want to waste a bunch of time on the process.
In my personal life, my mom worked overseas for several years. So to send any presents to her and my step dad, I’d have little choice but to pay for international shipping. In those cases it was more about getting the package delivered by a certain date and ensuring the package arrived intact. Considering the country she was in, that was always a bit of a gamble.
So what can we do to ensure the shipping process goes smoothly when shipping from one country to the next?
Choosing A Reliable Company – When you are shipping something a long distance, you don’t want to take your chances with a small company with minimal experience. A less experienced company might not know the ins and outs of quickly clearing customs in the destination country. Or they might not know other details of a country’s standard practices for package delivery. On the other hand, a more experienced company with a strong reputation will have shipped countless packages to that country. They will have perfected the process and learned from mistakes over the years.
Always Insure International Shipments – Even with the bigger companies, all sorts of problems can arise when trying to get a package delivered internationally. Maybe the customs agency in the destination country isn’t as reliable or trustworthy as you might assume. Or sometimes when a package is sent a long distance, it may have been mishandled and damaged along the way. Protect yourself by paying the small insurance fee for some peace of mind. Without the insurance you could be out of luck if your package goes missing or gets damaged. If you are importing goods, you may want to involve a import letters of credit as a layer of insurance so that you are only paying when certain terms are met by the exporter.
Familiarize Yourself With The Country’s Customs Rules – Rather than just shipping blindly, you should be aware of what kind of rules the country has when it comes to customs. There is often limitations on what kind of products can be imported. The product you are shipping may be technically allowed, but the type of product may result in slower shipping. For example, when I shipped DVDs to my mom, the shipment was rather late as the customs department was forced to check for digital content that was illegal in that country. They also felt the need to crush the included baked goods in case something was hidden inside.
Give Extra Time For Delivery – I learned this one the hard way by shipping packages too close to when they needed to get there. Shipping from one country to another is never as smooth as shipping within your own country. Customs is usually to blame for any kinds of delays, but there are cases where the country’s delivery process is just outdated and inefficient. So give yourself the extra time or don’t give the recipient overly optimistic delivery time expectations.
Lastly, if you are importing for a business, learn the various corporate banking jargon so that your shipment financing goes smoothly. When making a large payment to a foreign entity, there may be technicalities that may delay your payment. The more you can understand the banking fine print, the better prepared you will be. You don’t want a delayed payment to leave your shipment waiting for delivery, or worse yet, shipped back to the exporter’s country.
Have you had any bad experiences with shipping from one country to another? Are there any tips you would recommend? Or maybe you have a story of a bad shipping experience within your country?
I’ ve shipped a few things internationally, not for a few years though, and always went through the Post Office. It seemed to go fine, I was always interested in the various restrictions they might say had to be in place. Great point on allowing extra time for delivery. It always amazes me here in the States how long something can take to ship. I can send something to the other end of the country and it only takes two days. But, if I send something only a few hundred miles away it’ll take an entire week.
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Just using the post office would be fine for certain countries. With a more rare country though, I think I’d rather ship with a company with more at stake.
I’ve had stuff shipped to me from the U.S. – and had to make 2 trips to pick up things that should have come together. I know someone who shipped things home from Belize – the box got wet and smushed and she was not a happy camper.
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The packages being shipped separately was likely due to inefficient shipping practices by the company you ordered from. Companies don’t always take the time to combine packages into one shipment. As for the package arriving wet and smushed, I’d be pretty choked. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too fragile.
I have shipped a couple things to Canada and had no problems but never to any other countries. I hear there is a lot of corruption in South America and their postal systems…
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Between Canada and the US is pretty hassle-free. Shipping to a country somewhere like in South America may be another story though. Lack of government regulation might make it too easy for packages to just disappear.
I’ve never had to ship much internationally. The one time I did was when somebody purchased something from me on ebay. I had to ship it to Russia and it was a major pain in the butt. I used the USPS and there were quite a few forms to fill out. Not to mention the addresses are much different than how we address things in the U.S.
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Hopefully the buyer at least paid a decent price to make up for the hassles. You’re right that address formats in other countries can be quite different which can cause complications.
Thanks for the tips. I actually do a fair amount of shipping. I always pay for insurance when I ship something. I like the security of knowing I can replace the item if it gets lost or broken.
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If you’re doing a lot of shipping that is a good idea to get insurance. It’s likely just a matter of time until something gets lost or broken.
Great reminders before mailing something out, especially the points about insurance and customs/duty. I should get my friend who wants to sell stuff on Ebay to read this article. I’ve been lucky with international packages so far. Well, most of the time I’m on the receiving end, but so far I haven’t had any negative experiences. There was a $20 courier charge on some stuff I was sent recently from the US, but that’s not too bad.
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I have heard that some customs charges are hit or miss. One company I worked for would occasionally get people complaining that they had to pay an extra charge upon delivery and others that weren’t charged anything extra. If your friend wants to sell on ebay, shipping is one of the most important areas for him to learn more about.
I just ordered some NicerNotes from frugal portland and they took an eternity to cross from the US to Canada.
I have lived overseas several times and parcels are so hit and miss!
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You’d think from Portland to BC shipping would be pretty quick. I guess it got caught up at the border and then maybe had to wait for a truck from Vancouver to you.
I want to say that I once mailed something to England but I can’t think of what it could have been.
But I would treat items shipped to somewhere like Hawaii the same way. Dint have to deal with customs, but the danger of damage in shipment is high. I once sold an old laser printer on Ebay to a guy out there and it got DESTROYED in transit. That printer was built like a tank and it arrived in pieces. I WA very happy I insured the package! We
I’m sure some of us have seen the UPS or fedex caught on camera clips where they are tossing packages around or slamming them down. That kind of stuff must happen all the time. For a printer to completely fall apart, it would probably take a lot more than a single drop.
There was a time a couple years ago when I was very active on eBay and shipped several items to various countries in Europe, as well as Argentine and Brazil.
I found the USPS Priority international mail to be 100% flawless, but it is admittedly a small sample around 30 shipments or so).
In some cases (Brazil, IIRC) it took more than a month for the customer to get his order, but he did. (That customer ordered twice and received both.)
Wow a month is rather excessive. The shipment must’ve got redflagged for some reason. That’s good that you didn’t run into any other problems though. I guess it would probably depend on what kind of stuff you are shipping. Certain things would be more prone to damage or theft.
I don’t think that I’ve ever shipped anything out of the country before. Unfortunately, I just don’t have that many friends:)
I have shipped important things in country, however. When ever I ship something of importance, I always make sure that it is trackable and insured. Thanks again for the great tips!
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Someone I used to date shipped themself pot from Vancouver back to Indiana!!!!!!!!!!!
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lol it’s too funny when people use such a basic shipment method for something like that. Personally I wouldn’t want to put my name and address on that kind of shipment. I’m sure he took some kind of precautions to hide the smell.
I’ve had decent luck with international shipments. However, I’ve had horrible luck ordering lightbulbs online. They’re always broken when they arrive. I’ve had more claims about broken lightbulbs…so I wouldn’t order them online, but I have one socket that absolutely requires a lightbulb not available in local stores.
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Lightbulbs are a pretty risky thing to have shipped to you. When my friend worked in the indoor tanning industry, so many of the lightbulbs they ship would get broken. That would even be with special bubble wrap protection. I guess most shipping companies cannot be relied upon for something so fragile.
Mr. PoP’s dad has been involved with shipping antique mechanical parts all over the world – imagine the customs forms there!
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Yeah something like that might raise a bit of suspicion when it arrives in some country where they aren’t sure what it is.
Do you consider the USPS reliable? I always use them and they’re good. Although I never ship internationally either.
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I think they’re pretty reliable, but I have heard they still take extremely long with some shipments. Since I’m in Canada I haven’t used them to ship overseas or anything like that.
I shipped a few things to the UK at a company I worked for here in the states. I didn’t have any major issues, but the last point, where we thought the packages would arrive on tiem. NOPE! Give it an extra week or two, and just make sure to track them.
You have any issues shipping to the states from Vancouver?
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I don’t personally ship anything down to the US, but getting shipments from there is never a problem. At companies I worked for it was usually pretty smooth too. The only exception is one company who was trying to ship stuff like atvs and dirt bikes where there were all these extra importing regulations.
I have never had any major issues, but the UK is pretty small to be fair! The Royal Mail dominate the postage sector, however more and more US companies are creeping in. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years…
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Yeah you’d think a company would be able to figure out shipping within a small country like that easy enough. More competition is always good since it will keep prices low.
This is true! The Royal mail recently increased their stamp costs from 46p to 60p for First class and 36p to 50p for second class! This is due to a 25% decrease in the Royal Mail being used (probably due to email and the introduction of new courier companies that are contracted by the likes of Amazon, ASOS etc.)
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I love learning about obscure stuff like this! More please.
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haha yeah this topic is pretty obscure. It’s not something I had really planned on covering but the opportunity presented itself.
The first time I imported from abroad I got a nasty suprise with the local taxes that were added. It turned a cheap bargain into an expensive nightmare. Customs also felt the need to rip the package open and check it before delivering it to me! Anyway I learned my lesson, when importing goods be sure to factor in any applicable import taxes.
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That’s too bad. When you order something it is natural to assume that the company will list all applicable charges. That company might not have realized that the shipment would also create customs charges,
I’ve only shipped to Canada through the post office and it went OK. The custom form kind of freaked me out, but just because I’m not used to them.
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I’d think the US/Canada cross border shipping would be fairly smooth since Canadians order so much from US companies.
Several years ago, I sold books on eBay. The buyer was in Ireland. I sent the package with US mail, and according to buyer, the package never made it to the destination.
I ended up losing books without getting paid, and ended up losing money on shipping as well.
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That’s too bad Shilpan. Sometimes you do wonder whether people are just being dishonest to scam free goods. That is one of the risks of selling on ebay or other websites. You really need to setup certain protocols to avoid losing money on shipping.
I actually saw this story of the delivery guy tossing the package that contained the TV inside the yard. What really added fuel to the fire was that the owner was just there sitting inside the living room and this guy could have buzzed and be heard and the item safely delivered. Can’t they read the description of what’s inside?
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Yeah that’s pretty disrespectful. Sounds like he was out to lose his job and felt like taking it out on people who were getting nice stuff delivered. I’d be so pissed if I had that happen to me.